The Division III program based in Irving spent 18 months fundraising for a trip to the United Kingdom as a part of a team tradition. Head coach Matt Grahn said the program tried to take any player not from a city within their conference home for a series of games if they stick with the program for three years.
Senior forward Michael Kennedy grew up in the London suburbs, so his team was eager to take him there to play a few games in front of friends and family.
After over a year of hard work, they had the means to do it.
“We raised over $65,000,” Grahn, who is in his 16th year with the university and fifth as its head basketball coach, told The Dallas Morning News Wednesday. “We did anything and everything. We ran camps. All of our camps were fundraisers. We sold concessions at soccer games in the fall. We worked as ushers and security at AT&T Stadium for Cowboys games.
“We worked our tails off, and then it got ripped out from underneath us.”
The team was set to depart for the trip on May 28, but on April 6 — after making two payments of $30,000 to the travel company GoPlay LLC — they received an email stating the company had ceased operations and would be entering the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process.
Grahn said GoPlay’s CEO stopped responding to all communication, and the company’s website and social media presence were shut off. He says they have not been refunded and believes that process could take months or years.
GoPlay did not immediately respond to The News’ requests for comment on Wednesday.
In an email to Grahn, GoPlay cited “a combination of reduced bookings and increased cancellations due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East” for why they needed to cease operations.
In addition to helping the team book its trip, Grahn said GoPlay had gifted them a trip for two, including plane tickets, two nights in a hotel and tickets to either a theater or sporting event, that they could use for their fundraising. The team raffled off the tickets and chose a winner two days before the company shut down, raising $36,000 on that prize alone.
“With Texas gambling laws, we pulled the winner two days before GoPlay went under, so now, I either have to give all the money back to those specific donors, or I have to honor that trip,” Grahn said. “So now I’m not only out $60,000, but I’ve also got to pay for this winner to go to London for two days.”
The private Catholic university’s attorneys are now involved, but Grahn said they noticed the company hasn’t officially filed for bankruptcy yet. He says there isn’t much that they can do until then — and they are running out of time before needing to reschedule the trip.
The program is now seeking to push the trip to August and re-raise the funds. In just the last month, they’ve managed to raise $13,000 and have started a social media campaign on TikTok, which has gained significant traction.
“They were really angry to begin with. Now it’s like, OK, what can we do?” Grahn said of his players. “I’m really proud of them for living out what we talk about as a team, like control your controllables.
“I remain extremely hopeful. … I’m just trying to do right by these kids. I’m trying to do right by their families.”